What's Necessary
by sheilacalhoun
Summary: "Go to Brand, Dad." With those words, Joseph Cooper headed out with TARS to find Amelia Brand. Amelia is all alone with CASE on Wolf's planet, mourning over Cooper's sacrifice. Follow the Interstellar crew as they embark on an interstellar mission. (First fanfic! Reviews are appreciated! Enjoy!)
1. De Brief

**It is recommended that you either watch the movie _Interstellar _or read the novelization for the best understanding -**

Hey! This is my first time publishing any fic... So there are bound to be a lot of mistakes. This is really just to see if I can stick to anything... I really hope this doesn't become a Mary sue... I hope I can continue to dish out chapters! So, if you can bare to stick with me, enjoy! - sheilacalhoun

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INTERSTELLAR.**

**Note: The chapters may be labeled as "Flashback" or "Dream Sequence" Flashback is the canon flashback of that scene. Dream Sequence is my version or add on of a flashback. And if it is not labeled, it means its just the story.**

**EDIT: Added and deleted a few things. **

* * *

><p><strong><em>-Chapter 1: De-brief -<em>**

_The Ranger zipped through the wormhole with ease. The newest gen of Rangers were equipped to go near the speed of light by using Murphy Cooper's equation. By using gravity. They were sleek, just like its successor. The Rangers were smaller and more efficient. They were meant for one person and a robot, if so chosen. Containing a cryo-sleep pod and a few other things in them, they were clearly meant for interstellar travel. The amount of resistance the new Rangers gave was little to none when passing through a worm hole. The wormhole opened up and gave way to a strangely familiar view. Millions of bright stars shone in the distance. The one man who had seen this tiny seed of the ever expanding universe was back to the place he had once spent hundreds of years in. He was here again, to find the last part of his generation who still understands him and the struggles they went through. _

"Back again..." The man said, scratching his head.

"Indeed we are, Coop." What looked like a metal obelisk detached from the floor rails.

"TARS, calculate the time to Wolf's planet." TARS started running numbers on his screen. "Even traveling near light speed, I calculate the time to Wolf's planet to be... Six months."

Cooper nodded and walked over to the cyro-sleep bed and opened it up.

"TARS, wake me up when the time to Wolf's planet is about 6 hours." Cooper laid down and closed his eyes. "Sweet dreams Coop."

* * *

><p>"<em>... Computer says you're too tight." Cooper heard the radio shout. "I got this." His instruments were screaming at him to pull out. He was sweating like a dog under the hot summer sun. "Crossing the straights," Control said. "Shutting it down. Shutting it <em>all _down." Cooper was wheezing and jittery as hell. "No!" He yelled. "We need to power up-" Spinning like a child's top, black and red, black and red- the controls were ripped from his ha-_

"_-_Easy Cooper."

Cooper jolted up. His vision slowly began to clear up, his mind clearing when he heard TARS voice. After calming down he realized that he was clutching his chest. "Were you dreaming of the cra-" Cooper waved a dismissive hand to his robotic companion. TARS beeped a few times and walked away.

"6 hours till Wolf's planet." Cooper rested his head on the palms of his hands. _This needs to stop. This is ancient history. Stop reliving your old ghosts Coop. Focus on the now..._

Cooper dressed in his suit and sat in the pilots seat. _Technology has advanced so much since then. Relax Coop._ Cooper spent the next few hours, thinking about what the future held."2 hours till landing." TARS computed. "TARS, can you reach CASE at this distance? Let CASE know we are on our way, but do not tell Dr. Brand."

TARS did as he was told. Thankfully, TARS was updated now, thanks to the crew on the Cooper Station. Still the same body and AI settings, but he had more abilities that he did before. He had seen the newer AI, faster and had a more reliable power source. Which raised the question, why did Cooper keep him? He was an outdated model, with years of wear and tear on his casing. The only reason he was able to think like this was because of the updates. TARS is one of a kind. He was the only one that had a humor setting along with other ones. _Temporary settings: Humor setting: 10%. Honesty setting: 90%. Curiosity setting: 70%._

"Cooper, why did you keep me?" Cooper looked over at his partner.

Cooper thought for a second. "Ah, well Slick, you really _are_ one of a kind. Only you understand me and what we have been through. No other AI was going to be able to replace you." Cooper stopped. "Wait. What setting was that on? I don't remember AI being able to do that?" TARS stopped. "The crew on the Cooper Station updated my database, as well as my "Special" settings... I have more abilities than before." _Resume normal parameters. Humor: 75%. Honesty: 90%. Curiosity: 50%. _"Why, did they not update you? You could really use some major tuning." TARS' cue light flashed on. _That's a new one. _"Ahaha, ouch. Nice one TARS."

Cooper put his helmet on and sat back, closing his eyes. _Cooper station... _He had only just seen his daughter before she died. _Murph... _It was because of her that he was on his way to be with Brand. They don't belong in this era. They, Cooper and Brand, are the last two people who can understand what each other had been through.

"_Dad... Leave me." Cooper was a bit hurt by Murphy's words. But he knew there was some other meaning behind them. "I have my own family to be around. And a parent should never see their own child die before them." Cooper began to tear up. He held onto her hand and tried to hold back the wave of regret and remorse. "Go. Go be with her. She needs you." Cooper looked at Murph, confused. "Go be with Brand, dad." _

_His house was on display, like a museum. Cooper saw the familiar silhouette of TARS sitting in the dining room, draped with a blue tarp. "Is that..." The man next to him nodded. "We found him close to you. But his power source was fried. Do you want me to get you another one?" Cooper nodded._

_Cooper sat at the diner table and was messing with TARS settings. "Settings: General Settings. Any extra configurations?" Cooper thought. "Humor." TARS beeped. "Humor setting at: 100%" Cooper grunted. _

"_Take it down to 75%"_

"_Self destruct sequence in 3, 2, 1..."_

"_On second thought, bring it down to 65%."_

"_... Knock Knock."_

"_Do you want 55%?"_

_Cooper took a drink of his beer. "I know that look Cooper. What are you thinking?" He sighed. "I don't belong here, in... _this. _It just doesn't feel right. And Dr. Brand is out there. All alone. I need to go be with her... Like Murph said." _

A thud interrupted Coopers thoughts. He looked around and saw a clay-ish landscape. "We are here. And according to CASE's information, you won't be needing that helmet." TARS read off some simple information about the planet. _I mean... Will she be happy to see me, or angry? What if Wolf is still alive? _"Cooper..." _It is most likely that he is dead, but how would i go about that... _"Cooper!" He jolted back to reality. "What is it, TARS?!" If TARS had a body, Cooper could have sworn TARS had just jumped out of his skin. TARS did the equivalent to clearing his throat. "Well. Are you ready to go surprise an old friend?"

Cooper opened the hatch.

* * *

><p><strong>So... The <em>Italicized <em>text is, if you could tell, were flashbacks. I know they weren't word for word correct, but _I tried. _**

**Any way, till next chapter! Reviews are always appreciated!**


	2. Constant Plague

**- Chapter 2: Plague**

**Sorry its kinda long... But you will understand in a few. Listen to Detach when you read this~**

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><p><em>- "Right? And for our next trick..."<em>

_Cooper drew out the words, still a bit woozy from the spin. Nothing like pilot training though. 6 years in the Air Force and F-16 fighter training, he had pulled a max of 9G on Earth. Cooper sat back, letting a small smile creep onto his lips. He took off his helmet and wiped off his forehead, which was drenched in sweat. He started to laugh, his chest heaving from both laughing and relief. _

"_It'll have to be a good one. We're heading into Gargantua's pull-" _

_Cooper's smile fades in an instant. That's even more shit that we have to deal with._

"_Dammit..."_

_He unbuckles from his seat, formulating a plan as he makes his way to the bulkheads._

"_CASE, take her." _

_Cooper starts to close up the bulkheads. _Dammit Mann... That stunt costed us more than we could afford. Think Cooper... Think.

_CASE buzzed in over the radio. "Cooper, we are slipping towards Gargantua, shall I use the main engines?" _

"_NO! Let her slide as long as we can..." _

"_Copy." Cooper slides over to TARS who is welding a bulkhead. _

"_Here, give it to me." _

"_Coop, there's good news and bad news-" Cooper sighs. _

"_TARS, I've heard that one before. Just give it to me straight."_

_Brand finishes checking her equipment, hanging her clipboard on the wall. _Okay, good. Nothing seems to be broken... _Cooper scrambles into the module with a troubled face. _

"_Brand, the navigation mainframe's destroyed and we don't have enough life support to make it back to Earth. But we just might scrape it to Edmunds' planet."_

_Brand stops working and listens to his words, deciding what she would say next very carefully._

"_What about fuel?" _

_Cooper's features changed from worry to a state of urgency._

"_Not enough. But I've got a plan-" _

_When did Cooper _not _have a plan? That was Cooper though, always thinking, never stopping._

"_- let Gargantua suck us right into her horizon- then a powered slingshot around to launch us at Edmunds." Brand shook her head. _

"_Manually?" _

"_That's what I'm here for. I'll take us just inside the critical orbit."_

"_And the time slippage?"_

_Coopers face hardened. He had clearly thought through this, and had made the decision of going to Wolf's planet over going back to see his kids._

"_... Neither of us can afford to worry about relativity right now."_

"_I-I'm so sorry Cooper."_

_They embrace, gently touching faceplate to faceplate. Amelia knew Cooper was a good man, and he chose the mission over seeing his kids again. She thought back to Miller's planet, and what she had said to him, and what he had said to her. _

_Cooper and TARS were rearranging the remaining Lander and Ranger, their retro rockets making puffs in the empty void. Cooper buzzes in over the radio._

"_Once we've gathered enough speed around Gargantua, we use the Lander 1 and Ranger 2 as rocket-boosters to push us out of the black hole's gravity..." _

_Cooper slides into Ranger 2 to check on the systems. _

"_... The linkages between Landers are destroyed..." _

_TARS attaches onto the Landers rail and slides to the controls, running simulator checks._

"_... So we'll control manually. When Lander 1's spent, TARS will detach-" _

"_And get sucked right into that black hole." TARS finished off the sentence, sounding a bit too peppy._

_Brand stopped, waiting to hear any laughing, any sign of humor. TARS and Cooper had been becoming more and more understanding of each other. It's like they were somehow meant to be together. _

"_Why does he have to de-tach?" _

"_We have to shed mass if we're gonna escape that gravity." TARS intervenes. _

"_Newton's third law- the only way humans have ever figured out of getting somewhere is to leave something behind." _

_Brand's hands start to shake, and her forehead beads with sweat. _

"_Cooper, you can't ask TARS to do this for us-" Cooper buckles his harness. _

"_He's a robot. Amelia- I don't have to _ask _him to do anything." _

_That lights Brand's fuse up._

"_Cooper! You _asshole_!" _

"_Sorry, you broke up a little there..." _

_TARS comes on over the radio. "It's what we intended, Dr. Brand..." TARS connects to the controls, ready._

"_It's our last chance to save people on Earth- if I can find some way to transmit the quantum data I'll find in there, they might still make it." _

_Brand stops to consider this. _

"_If there's someone still there to receive it..." _

_The black hole's gravity made the Endurance start to shudder and creak, its casing trying to tear off and go to the black hole. Brand tightened her harness. All around the ship was absolute blackness. TARS sat there, not moving or saying anything. Brand wondered what he thought about. Sure, he was a robot. But she still could not help but wonder. The ship started to pick up speed, hurtling to the ultimate black mass in front of them. CASE came on over the Endurance's radio._

"_MAXIMUM VELOCITY ACHIEVED... PREPARE TO FIRE ESCAPE THRUSTERS-"_

_TARS checked his instruments for the umpteenth time._

"_Ready."_

_Cooper checks over his instruments as well._

"_Ready."_

_Brand looked out the window at the growing horizon. _How can they be so calm?

_CASE started the count down. _

"_Main engine ignition in three,_

_two,_

_one,_

_mark-"_

_CASE starts the Endurance's main engines. The ship strained against the gravity. _

"_Lander 1 engines, on my mark._

_Three,_

_two,_

_one,_

_mark."_

"_Fire." _

_TARS starts the Lander's engines. The thrust starts to add to the initial speed. The Endurance begins to rise away from the darkness, rattling the crew._

"_Ranger 2's engines, on my mark._

_Three,_

_two,_

_one._

_Mark."_

"_Fire."_

_Cooper hits the button. Ranger 2's engines added a fresh thrust, pushing the Endurance higher and higher... Back into the starlight..._

_Cooper was shaking with the thrust. He looked down at his instruments. He chuckled to himself._

"_That little maneuver cost us fifty-one years!"_

_Brand held on tight to her chair. Suddenly, she thought of something to say._

"_You don't sound so bad for a hundred and twenty!"_

_She could hear him grunt, then she wondered if he was thinking about his family. The ship continued to strain against the gravity. Lander 1's engines died out. CASE started down another countdown._

"_Lander 1, prepare to detach, on my mark..._

_three..._

_Brand looked over at the Lander and saw TARS on his rail._

"_Two..."_

_All of her joy drained when she remembered that TARS had to go._

"_One..."_

"_Mark."_

_TARS beeped and activated the button._

"_Detach."_

_Brand saw the Lander drop, revealing Cooper in the second Ranger._

"_See ya, Slick." _

_TARS chipped into the radio._

"_See you on the other side, Coop."_

_Brand frowned. Something wasn't quite right. What was it..._

_Lander 1 falls behind as the Endurance continues it's ascent. Cooper checked his remaining fuel supply._

"_Hey, CASE? Nice reckless flying." _

"_Learned from the master, Cooper."_

_Ranger 2's engines die. CASE registers the fuel level._

"_Ranger 2, prepare to detach."_

_Brand stopped, trying to take in what CASE had just said. It slowly registered in her brain. Then she screamed._

"_NO!"_

_She tries to unbuckle her harness._

"_On my mark..."_

_She flies over to the window, looking at Cooper. _

"_COOPER, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" _

_CASE continues the count down._

"_Three,"_

_Cooper looked over at Brand._

"_Newton's third law- you have to leave something behind."_

_TARS chimed in._

"_It's what we intended."_

"_Two,"_

_Brand pushes her helmet up to the window. _

"_You _told me _we had enough power-"_

"_One..."_

_Cooper looked over at her fondly, his eyes softening._

"_Hey, we agreed- ninety percent."_

_CASE reaches zero._

"_Mark..."_

_Cooper reached over to the button to detach. He takes one last look at Brand. Inside of her helmet, she was crying, the zero-G making her tears catch in her eyelashes like melted snow. _

_Cooper hits the button. But the word caught in his throat._

"_D-detach."_

_Space and time seemed to slow down, Brand and Cooper held that last moment of eye contact for what seemed to be hours. _

_Ranger 2 dropped away from the Endurance._

_Cooper sees the Endurance accelerate away to a bright speck as he fell faster,_

_and faster,_

_into the black hole's grubby mitts._

_Cooper started to breath faster._

_Cooper tried to get his breathing under control, but was not having much luck. He wanted Brand not to worry. _

_He used the Ranger's retro-rockets to turn the Ranger down, facing the black hole. _

"_T-TARS, are you there?"_

_Static._

_Brand was still crying, listening to Cooper's lonely transmissions._

_Ranger 2 plunges towards the black hole. _

_Cooper's breathing speeds up, getting louder and louder._

_The Ranger starts to get pulled and stretched from the gravity._

_Cooper's breathing gets louder and louder._

_Brand can almost hear a scream in his breath._

_Louder, _

_The light began to encase Cooper._

_Louder, _

_The Ranger was shaking violently._

_Louder- _

_Until it cuts off. _

_Brand stares off into the direction Cooper was, sobbing. She puts her hand to the window and the other to her chest. Tears flowing out of her eyes. _

_The Endurance, with Amelia Brand and CASE, jetted out into the blackness of space._

* * *

><p>Amelia jolted awake, sobbing. Her pillow and hair soaked from her tears and sweat. Brand was plagued with the constant replay of the incident. She couldn't help but always feel guilty that Cooper wasn't able to go back to see his daughter. The ultimate outcome of the event was not what Brand wanted. TARS... Why did TARS <em>have <em>to drop? He was special to her, and he had a humor setting. They had engineered TARS to be one of a kind... It's not that she doesn't like CASE... But he just wasn't like TARS. Wolf was dead when she arrived, crushed in his sleep pod from a land slide. And now she was all alone on a foreign planet, without any kind of companion, aside from CASE. Brand started to tear up again, screwing up her face to stop from crying. _If Cooper were here, he would have told me to stop frowning. "It makes your pretty face look sad." _Brand stood up, walked outside and took a deep breath. Gargantua's light slowly started to light up the surface of the planet. There was that one small sliver of hope that he was still alive. Brand hoped every second that if he was alive that he was somehow with Murphy. But that was such a small chance. Nothing could ever escape a black hole, and if it did, there would be nothing left. Brand could not hold back her tears any longer.

"Cooper... I need you..."


	3. A Different Angle

-**Chapter 3: Different Angle - Dream Sequence/ Flashback**

Up to this point, Brand had been on Edmund's planet for 6 months and 12 days, according to CASE. It's a little depressing when CASE says it. Even though he has a vocal variator, it still sounds very monotone. They did a better job on TARS, and obviously TARS was a newer version. The first few months were bearable. Setting up camp, cleaning up the damaged Endurance, taking the small explorations to see the planet they were going to live on.

Brand decided to go out and explore the patch of land to the east. She always had a hard time deciding whether to take CASE with her or leave him to guard the base. There had been no signs of life up to this point, but you can never be too safe.

"CASE, stay here and keep the base running. I'll relay some data to you, so stay on."

Brand was expecting CASE to argue back, saying that it was not the optimal setup, blah blah blah. To her surprise, he stayed silent.

"Affirmative." _That's strange... _Brand gathered her gear and got onto the ATV CASE had assembled from spare parts from the Endurance. CASE was good for many things. He didnt talk much at all, but he could engineer things well. She was slightly mad that Cooper choose TARS to drop into the bla- _Amelia! Stop thinking like that. Cooper and TARS sacrificed themselves so that you could live. _But she did wish that TARS was here. He talked more, and was a kinda like Cooper, in a way. _Cooper... _She had to stop thinking about him. There was nothing else she could do but live and keep the human race going. She had decided to not start the process until later, so she could survey the area and get her self together. Brand suddenly hit a rock and she flew off onto the ground, hitting her head. _S-shit... _She could feel herself slipping away. Just like Cooper had, into the never ending blackness of Gargantua. She couldn't fight it, and just let it take her, letting the gravity pull her away.

_C-Cooper..._

* * *

><p>... "<em>Doctor Brand. There is someone approaching the perimeter." <em>

_Brand stopped organising her papers and walked over to where TARS was "standing". _

"_How should I asses the situation, Dr. Brand?" _

"_TARS, go out there and wait. If they try anything, apprehend them. If they walk away, you know what to do."_

_How could anyone find this place? Literally _anyone _who knew of this place was here. She abruptly pulled a chair up and sat down. Who was this person, and how could they find us? Brand opened up her laptop and radioed to TARS._

"_TARS, please share your live feed." _

_The screen displayed static, then a picture of a man with bolt cutters appeared. The man was tall and lanky. He had some scruff on his face, his hands had calluses, clearly from working. He seemed to know what he was doing, but slightly confused as to exactly why he was here. He walked over to the fence._

"_Should I apprehend?" _

_Brand waited to see what the man was going to do. He looked like he was thinking about something, then he slowly lifted the bolt cutters and- _

"_Do it." _

_TARS turned on the spotlights. _

"_STEP AWAY FROM THE FENCE." _

_Brand did not think it was possible for a robot to yell, but then again, that robot was TARS... _

_The man, startled, dropped his cutters and puts his hands in the air. He suddenly has a face of fear, but not for himself. _

"_Don't shoot! My child is in the car-" _

_Brand saw the truck. It was a blue Dodge Ram truck, double wheels on the back. It had all kinds of dents and scratches, not to mention the layers of dust caked on. It looked like one of the tires was flat. What would make that truck so beaten and dusty? What was life like outside of the facility? _

"_-I'm unarmed! My daughter-" _

_TARS tased the man and clunked his way over to the truck. _

"_There is a child in the car, like the man said."_

_Brand stopped TARS._

"_Do not hurt the child. I will be up there to help you."_

"_DO NOT BE AFRAID." _

_The child screamed._

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><p><em>Brand walked to the storage room the man was held in. She stopped just short of the door when she heard some arguing between TARS and the man. His voice sounded like he had had years of experience with the outside world.<em>

"_...How did you find us?" _

_The man grunted. _

"_But you don't look like a lawnmower to me... you, I'm gonna turn you into an overqualified vacuum cleaner-" _

_She had to hold her tongue to keep from laughing. _

"_No you are not." Brand took a step into the room, arms folded. The man turns to look at her. _

"_TARS, back down please." _

_The man, as Brand dubbed to be the cowboy, turned to her. "You're taking a risk using ex-military for security. They're old, their control units are unpredictable..." _

_His voice was scruffy, and sounded very, slowly, drawn out. She sighed. "Well, that's what the government could spare." The cowboy seemed to be familiar with machines like TARS. Military robots. Who was he? _

"_Who are you?" he asked, like he was reading her mind. _

"_Dr. Brand." _

_The cowboy stopped. "I knew a Dr. Brand once. But he was a professor-" _

_Brand was a bit offended by this. "What makes you think I'm not?" _

_He laughed a bit. "And nowhere near as cute." _

_She scoffed. "You think you can flirt your way out of this mess?" _

_The cowboy stopped and took a breath. "Dr. Brand, I have no idea what this mess is. I'm scared _

_for my little girl and I want her by my side." _

_He sounded genuinely honest and scared. Good man, cares for his family. "Then I'll tell you anything you want to know. Okay?" _

_Brand stopped and thought for a moment. She turned to TARS and quietly whispered to him. "Get the principals and the girl into the conference room." _

_She turned to the cowboy. "Your daughter's fine. Bright kid." She stopped. _

"_Must have had a very smart _mother_."_

_The man followed behind Brand, glancing back at TARS every few steps, like he was some kind of killer. _

"_Listen, it's pretty clear you don't want visitors. Why not just let us back up from your fence, and be on our way?" _

_She laughed. "It's not that simple."_

"_Sure it is. I don't know anything about you or this place." _

"_Yes you do."_

_She opened the door. An older man was crouched down next to his daughter. The girl looked up._

"_Dad!" She ran to him as he picked her up and hugged her tight. The old man stood up. He was Amelia's father. _

"_Hello, Cooper." _

_So thats his name. Fitting._

"_P-Professor Brand?"_

_Doyle spoke up. "Just take a seat, Mr. Cooper."_

"_Explain how you found this facility." Williams said. Williams was an older man, wearing glasses and had a bit of a beard growing. _

"_I stumbled across it. Looking for salvage and I saw the fence-"_

"_You're sitting in the world's best kept secret- you don't just stumble in. And you certainly don't just stumble out."_

_Cooper started to look apprehensive. He seemed to choose his next words like his life depended on it. "It's hard to explain, but we learned these coordinated from, from an anomaly..."_

_Doyle chips in. "What, sort of anomaly?"_

"_I don't want to term it 'supernatural' but..."_

_Brand could see that Cooper was holding something back. "You are going to have to be quick Mr. Cooper. Real quick."_

"_... Well, after the last storm, there was a pattern, in the dust..."_

_Murphy cut in. _

"_It was gravity."_

* * *

><p>"<em>TEN"<em>

_Brands heart was racing._

"_NINE."_

_She looked out the window, at the facility walls._

"_EIGHT."_

_Breath in._

"_SEVEN."_

_Breath out._

"_SIX."_

_No going back._

"_FIVE."_

_To save humanity._

"_FOUR." _

_The rockets fired up._

"_THREE."_

_They were really really loud, louder than she remembered._

"_TWO."_

_She could feel the vibrations and the wind._

"_ONE."_

_Wait. Something's not right-_

"_IGNITION."_


	4. Surprise

**Chapter 4: Surprise- Dream Sequence**

Cooper was in a daze, thinking of the time when he first met Brand. She was cocky, arrogant and a bit hard to converse with. Sure, when she set her mind to something, she could get it done... But she wasn't one of those people you just let on their own, they needed help, or rather someone with the "muscle".

The Ranger approached the surface, kicking up some dust. _And I thought I got away from the dust... _When Cooper and TARS landed, they saw a human figure on the ground, unconscious. There was an ATV by the figure. In just a few seconds, he surmised that the figure had fallen off and hit their head. _Well, I know what I am getting Brand for her birthday._

Cooper jumped out of the Ranger and ran as fast as his suit would let him. The suits were heavy, of course, to help you from getting killed by space and its many hazards. But the newer ones were lighter and were much more mobile than the last ones. Cooper shook his head. _Focus on the mission._ His fears came true. It _was_ Dr. Brand laying there, her head bleeding a little. He checked her pulse. _Still breathing and alive. _

"TARS! Go contact CASE and get the coordinates for the ba-" TARS was already starting the Ranger up again, calculating the course to the base.

"I already have them, Coop. Get in, I'll drive."

Cooper almost started to laugh, and would have if the given state was not so grim. As soon as Cooper got in, TARS closed the hatch and sped off. They could see the Endurance's outer modules come into view. Cooper could feel his heart rate rising as they approached the grounded ship. TARS could feel Cooper's anxiety, once again, thanks to the updates.

"It's going to be fine Cooper. I scanned her as well as I could. She only has a minor concussion."

Cooper made a grunting noise. TARS just took it as a 'thank you'. As they landed, a familiar shape came running out of the base.

"Go with CASE. I'll park the Ranger."

Cooper grunted again and jumped out with Brand. TARS watched as CASE rolled away with Cooper into the base. _What is with him and grunting._

* * *

><p>"<em>Hey dad." A man with a silvering hair line looked over towards the voice. <em>

"_Yes, Amelia?"_

_The voice belonged to a younger looking Amelia Brand, about 12. She has a spark in her eye, waiting to be fanned into a flame. "Are there other planets out there like ours?" _

_The professor stopped to think. He was a man of science and truth, with an aging face."I certainly hope so. Our planet has been telling us to leave her for a long time..."_

_She stopped to think what a planet like theirs might look like."I think it might look like a desert... I don't think Earth plants and animals will exist there if there is one. Maybe lots of rocks..."_

_He looked over at her."Amelia. Would you like to go see a planet like ours? Be the first human to set foot there?" _

_Her eyes lit up. _

"_Would you be there with me?" _

_He laughed. His eyes softened and he grabbed Amelia close to hug her._

"_I will."_

* * *

><p><em>A now older Amelia Brand stood waiting for her name to be called, dressed in a gown. This ceremony was much different than usual. There were only a handful of graduates there. Amelia clenched her hands together, trying to calm down. <em>

"_... Next up is Amelia Brand. Graduating with a Doctorates degree in biology." _

_Amelia took a deep breath and let her shoulders fall. Then she straightened up, and walked up to the stage. She shook the professors hands and looked out into the crowd, spotting her father. He gave a thumbs-up. _

_Her father sat down with a heavy sigh. _

"_Amelia. It's about time I tell you the truth."_

_Dr. Brand looked at her father, trying to figure out what he was saying."What do you mean?"_

_Her father's brow wrinkled, trying to find the right words."I... The world is... We have been told that the Earth is dying."_

_Amelia nodded slowly. What was he getting at? She knew all of this already. _

"_The Earth is actually adapting to what we have done to it. And soon we will not be able to live here. We need to find another planet, and in the very near future. However, there is one thing that we have discovered. After seeing an anomaly near Saturn, we have figured out that it is a wormhole." _

_Her eyebrows raised. "A wormhole?"_

_He nodded, his eyes looking distant."We can see that there are multiple systems that the wormhole takes us to. And... We need to send people there. To tell us if any of them are habitable. We have a team ready to go once we get the Rangers assembled. And in that group is Wolf."_

_Amelia twitched. "Why Wolf?" _

"_Because he volunteered. We know he does not like what the people are doing to the Earth. When I confronted him about it, he said he would rather be alone and alive than dead because of the human race." _

_Her face tightened up. Rather be alone? She felt a bit hurt. _

"_We will have them send us a 'thumbs up' if their planet is habitable."_

_She stopped him. "When will they be back?" _

_That's when he held her hands. "We have named the mission... The Lazarus mission. I assume you already know the story of Lazarus. He came back to life after he died... And we have calculated that the Rangers cannot hold enough fuel to come back..."_

_She clenched her fists, trying not to think too hard about what he was going to say next._

"_... And, the candidates we picked are perfect for that reason. They do not have any family or friends to leave behind."_

_She nodded slowly, knowing that that was true. Her father held her hands tighter."... Newtons third law... In order to move on, something must be left behind."_

"_Amelia. We are sending you, Doyle, Romilly, and Cooper up to the wormhole."_

_She stopped fiddling with the fertilized eggs. "Why Cooper? Didn't he just get here? And what about his family? He has kids dad!"_

_He nods. "I asked him about it and he agreed to go. He was the only pilot who left the simulator. He knows the Rangers in and out. He is the best man to put on this project. Of course, we will send TARS up there with you all." _

_Brand turned around to face her father. There was a sense of anxiety and fear. _

"_Wait... But what if we don't make it back? What about plan A and plan B? I won't get to see you again!" _

_She started to tear up. _

"_It is going to be okay. You will make it back, and I promise you that I will have the equation solved by that time."_

_He hugged her close, petting her head to calm her down. "It's going to be okay Amelia..."_

_She closed her eyes, trying to stop the tears from falling. He kept holding her, telling her that it would be okay. _

"_Now Amelia... It's time to wake up and face the stars. Start a new Earth... Wake up..."_

* * *

><p>She could feel someone petting her head, their hands warm and calloused from work. She just kept her eyes closed, enjoying the darkness...<p>

Suddenly, it all flowed back to her. Edmund's planet, the Endurance, Gargantua- She was all alone on his planet, no one else should be here.

With a start, she bolted up, flinging her eyes open. It was dark, she couldn't see anything. Brand could feel an IV in her arm. _How long was I out- _Then she remembered. Flying off the ATV and hitting her head. She winced. _So... To put on the need list, Helmet. _Ironically, Her head _then_ started to throb with pain.

"Hey, take it easy."

She stopped. Brand tried to look around the dark room, but with no luck.

"CASE? Is that you? Your voice sounds different..."

The voice chuckled.

"Last time I checked, CASE doesn't have hands."

Brand was confused, her mind still in a haze. _Am I still dreaming? _Brand could hear two familiar electronic voices outside of the room.

"... I don't know. He has been in there since you arrived."

"It has been 3 days. I would go check, but my intuition is that he would have come out to tell us if anything was wrong."

"Since when did _you _ever have 'Intuition'?"

"Since they tuned me up. You are an old computer CASE. Get with the program."

"... Shut up TARS."

_TARS?! How? I have to be asleep still. _Brand shook her head gingerly, trying to wake herself up.

"This is no dream, Dr. Brand."

She stopped. Her head had cleared up a bit more. _This voice... No... It really can't be... They went into Gargantua... How are they still alive- _

Her thoughts were interrupted by a strong embrace. They smelled very familiar, and the voice sounded just like him.

"... C-cooper?"

* * *

><p><strong>As if that wasn't really obvious... I am terrible at this stuff, forgive me. CASE is an old fart. Hehe.<strong>

**THIS SEEMS LIKE A GREAT SPOT FOR A CLIFF HANGER! FLASHBACK TIME.**


	5. The Message

- **Chapter 5: The Message- Dream Sequence**

Amelia had always chosen to be alone when she was on Earth, so she could handle being alone. But never _this _alone. No other humans to be around, to talk to. She was truly the only living organism on this planet, other than bacteria and the such. It's hard to talk to amoebas. They tend to not talk back.

Brand decided to not start the population bomb until she had the camp set up, and fully operational. She still had to watch the weather and record it. She was not going to bring up any kids until she had a full grasp of this world.

Brand hopped in the Lander with CASE. They still needed to bring the _Endurance _down from orbit around Wolf's planet. This was her last mission in space, but she had another here on the planet, to house and help grow the human race.

Cooper had helped save her, by jettisoning into Gargantua. There really had been only enough resources to get Brand to Wolf's, not for the both of them. She stopped and took a deep breath. _Thank you Cooper. _

Brand shook her head, slapping her face gently to get her mind focused on the task at hand: getting the _Endurance _to her final resting place.

"Are you okay Dr. Brand?"

She nodded her head. "I guess..."

CASE was more of a personal health AI. The more cautious of the two. They were a pair, together they kind of represented a human. Kinda. TARS and CASE were programed around the same time, but CASE went up with the _Endurance, _while TARS stayed behind. Therefor CASE had not been able to be updated with the larger of the updates.

"I can sense that you are lying, Dr. Brand. You know I have to log these types of things."

Brand stopped, and began to wonder why he needed to record stuff if there was no mission control on Earth anymore? Not to mention their transmissions would take forever to reach Earth, if they did not get disturbed while in transit.

"CASE, I-I'm fine." She sighed. CASE beeped a few times, like he was receiving something.

CASE maneuvered the Lander onto the _Endurance _and locked it into place. Then they started the slow descent onto the planets surface.

"... I think now is the right time to show this to you." CASE said. Brand cocked her head, confused.

"What do you mean? What is there to show me?" More info on the planets surface?

"Broadcasting onto my screen." CASE pulled up a file onto his screen and opened it.

"_... You recording CASE?_"

Amelia jumped in her seat. _Cooper...?_

"_Yep." CASE replied._

_Cooper cleared his throat. _

It was him, aboard the _Endurance _after Mann had blown the airlock. He looked slightly stressed, his hair glistening with sweat.

"_Hey . I told CASE here to give this to you when he thought the time was right." Off to the side, she heard TARS walking up. _

"_Don't mess it up, CASE." Cue light._

"_Shut up TARS." CASE replied. _

"_Anyway, I did lie to you about there being enough resources to get us both to Wolf's planet. I just wanted to say... I am so sorry about choosing Mann's planet instead of Wolf's. And you were right. Love is the one thing that can transcend space and time. And that is why I am going to leave the Endurance with TARS, to try and get the quantum data from Gargantua. I don't think I will make it, so..."_

_His voice cracked a bit as he turned away, his jaw tightening. _

"_If you could find some way to forgive me... It would make the ends meet on this end. I still haven't... Haven't... Made ends meet with... M-Murphy."_

_For the first time, she saw Cooper cry. It was a beautiful sight to behold. The man truly cared about his family and the rest of the humans on Earth. He was still going to try and save even at the very end. _

"_... If there is some way to get the quantum data to Earth, then TARS and I will work to get the data out. Like Romily suggested, if we can get a look at the singularity, we might be able to save the Earth. So, if the quantum data reaches Earth, I hope that it can be like my love to Murphy. If you somehow see her again... Tell her... I love her and... I am so sorry."_

_Cooper looked back up, his face wet with beads from his tears, zero gravity making his tears stick to his eyelashes. He shook his head, wiping his face. _

"_Now to go talk to the current you. Or rather, the past you, I guess."_

Brand was crying now, unable to stop sobbing.

"_This is Cooper..."_

Amelia let out a gasp, holding her hand to the screen. "D-don't go... Please!"

"_Signing off. Thanks CASE."_

"_Don't worry Dr. Brand. This was what we had planned on Mann's planet."_

_- _END OF MESSAGE.

For what seemed like an eternity, Brand cried. CASE kept the _Endurance _at a steady pace, with no hurry. They did have all the time in the world. CASE knew well that Brand needed to cry. Humans needed to let their emotions out, or it could lead to insanity, especially when alone.

She had thought that Cooper was just a guy who wanted things to go his way. But he was always thinking about the people and what risks were at hand. Brand just realised that, and way too late. Not just the mission, but about his crew. He was a real leader, something Brand was not.

Brand wanted to be like him, the way he thought and did things. He was smart and knew how to get things done. Cooper was one of a kind. An engineer, a pilot, a father... And a smart ass. She laughed.

"Thank you CASE. I needed that."

CASE took a silent note. "I knew you were lying about being fine. But you are welcome."

The _Endurance _was approaching the surface. Brand thought about how well the _Endurance _had protected them, had taken them places no man has gone before, until now, of course.

This would be the final resting place for the _Endurance._

**I had written this chapter before I saw the other Interstellar fics. I had already been thinking of making Cooper give a message to Brand, I just didn't where to put it in regards to chapters.**


	6. Busy Work

_- _**Chapter 6: Busy Work- Dream Sequence**

**EDIT: Added some things to make it more similar to the movie.**

* * *

><p>Once they had landed the <em>Endurance, <em>the work began. First in business was to get the pods off of the now grounded _Endurance. _They could use the extra linkages to build other things that they might need later. Luckily, they had tools for taking apart the _Endurance, _in fact there was practically a manual for it. Because they were only a robot and a human, this was going to take a very long time.

The first modules to come off were the living quarters and the cryo module. After they had successfully removed the cryo module, that was about one month of work, including getting generators set up with the solar panels.

"CASE, how long are the day and night cycles here?" CASE pulled up Wolf's data.

"Each day and night are approximately 35 Earth hours each." Amelia thought about the time back on Earth. She would sometimes think about how weird it was that they thought about time the way they did. Seconds, minutes, hours... If there were other life forms out there, did they think of time as the same thing? Or did they even know about time as a thing? Her head was constantly plagued by these random thoughts that could not be answered. And the only "person" she could elaborate to was CASE. Again, not the best conversationalist.

They had finally finished hooking up the solar panels to the living quarters. In the living quarters, there was a small full functioning kitchen, and a place to eat, which Brand figured she wouldn't use, since there was always going to be work to do. There were bunks, each holding their own personal storage unit. There was a strip of velcro above each door so the crew could put their name tag on it. _Romily, Doyle, Cooper... _She was going to start to take the contents out of each storage and put them away, for later use, if needed.

Brand started with Doyle's room. There were only some cloths, nothing too personal. She put them away in a storage container. _... Doyle... I'm so sorry... It's my fault for getting you killed on Miller's planet... _She let out a deep breath, trying to compose herself. A piece of paper fell out of one of Doyle's pants pocket. Brand picked it up and turned it over. She about dropped to her knees. It was a picture of a young girl, with dark brown hair. She was wearing camo hunting gear, and was holding a buck head. Doyle was standing next to her, smiling. Brand turned the picture over and saw writing. _Kendra's first kill! Way to go sis! _She almost started to cry. Doyle had told them that he had no family. She put the picture in the box and continued to clean out his bunk.

Underneath his mattress, she found a diary. The pages looked old from being thumbed by nervous hands. She opened it up and flipped a few pages. One of them stuck out of the book, and she happened to catch a glimpse of what it said.

_May 15. _

_I told them that I have no family. I want to leave this place. Kendra is still sick from all of the dust, we need to find another planet for us to live on, and fast. There was a guy who found our facility, and now I'm being told that he is coming with us. He has a family though, why are they letting him go? Or is it a forced thing? I don't now. For now, I hope that we can return home as soon as possible._

_Doyle_

Brand closed the diary and put it in the box as well. _Not for me to read. _Brand took down Doyle's name tag from the door. She closed up the box and stored it in the floor. Next was Rom's.

She walked over to Romilly's quarters and started to empty his unit out. Brand thought about Romilly. He was quiet, and very dedicated to his work. When they had come back from Miller's planet, she couldn't believe that this was happening.

"_Why didn't you sleep?"_

"_Oh, trust me. I had my share of stretches."_

_He stopped, fidgeting with his hands._

"_I- At some point, I thought you were never coming back. I thought it was wrong to just, sleep my life away."_

_Brand walked up to Romilly, touching his face._

"_... I learned as much as I could about Gargantua and-"_

_Brand interrupted his sentence. _

"_I-I'm so sorry Rom..."_

Brand finished emptying out Romilly's bunk and took his name tag off of the door. She stored his things next to Doyle's.

Lastly, Cooper.

Brand knew this one was going to take her a while. She took his clothes out and put them in the storage container. While rummaging about, she found a walkman. _Wait, wasnt that- _She turned it over. On the back was an worn out piece of tape with "Coop" written on it. It was weird, seeing something that old. Since she moved underground, she never had to see the dust that was killing the crops. Some people called it the "Food Fight", and others called it The Second Dust Bowl. Since the blight started to speed up, people went on rampages, wrecking the tech that the humans had made.

"_Why are you not doing anything about this?!"_

"_My farm is dying!"_

"_We don't need more technology, we need food."_

Computers were wrecked, airplanes sabotaged, it was like a zombie apocalypse, without the zombies. Apparently, there were not a lot of cell phones, tvs, and medical machinery because they took them apart to help make more farms. Brand had been sheltered from the life outside. When she had seen Cooper for the first time, she was slightly confused and amazed at how he looked. He looked like he could take on the world, but she didn't know what was fueling him to go on, and stay strong.

Now she knew. And she had taken Cooper away from what fueled him to go on. He had had hope to save the humans back on Earth, and as a last resort, he sacrificed himself so she could go on, and start Plan B.

Brand was angry with herself. She had had so much hate for Cooper after he had chosen Mann's planet over Wolf's. Brand had spat so much venom at Cooper. So much... She wished that she could go back, and slap her self.

Brand finally understood what Cooper was. He was a caring father, who made mistakes, honest and selfish. He thought about others rather than himself. Cooper was... Cooper was a great guy, and an amazing father. She decided that she would teach the children about their journeys, and about Cooper's amazing sacrifice to save the human race.

When she cleared out his last cubby, she found his old helmet, the one with the crack in it from Mann's planet. Brand thought about what happened.

_Brand was rummaging about, taking things from the Lander and the Ranger and recording them. Suddenly she heard her radio crack with static, then, Cooper's raspy and panicked voice._

"_... rand! Doctor Brand! Help... No air... Only... Ammonia..."_

_Suddenly her head cleared of the fog that had been there. _

"_Cooper! Hang in there! CASE!"_

_"I have a lock."_

_Brand jumped over the wires on the floor. _

_"Go, CASE, go!"_

"_A-and away!" CASE started the ignition._

_The Lander roared to life, spraying ammonia snow all over Brand's faceplate as she hurriedly scrambled into the Lander. Brand's voice was panicky and cracking from the adrenaline that filled her veins. She stumbled to the front of the Lander._

"_Cooper! Cooper! Hang in there! Small breaths, small- CASE, STEP ON IT! Don't panic Cooper, I'm coming!"_

That was one of the more heart racing situations she had been in. That event on Mann's planet had really opened her eyes.

_Her blood roared as she began to feel very scared. _

"_Cooper! Don't worry, I'm on my way!"_

"_I have his coordinates."_

_CASE was flying fast, just missing the frozen clouds. Time seemed to slow down, each passing second slipping by like a long winter night. _

"_Come on CASE! Faster faster faster-"_

_Why did she feel like this? Didn't he choose Mann's planet over Wolf's in spite of he- _

_Brand stopped. How could she think about something that stupid and petty at a time like this? Cooper's life was in danger, and depending on her actions now, his life was in her hands. Her mind raced back to Miller's planet, and how Cooper had yelled at her to come back to the Ranger. She had been so stubborn that it costed Doyle's life. When she thought about it more, she deserved this, not Cooper._

_As they flew past the various mountains and valleys of ice, she saw a figure laying on the ice._

"_I-I see him! CASE!" _

_As the Lander approached the ground, Brand threw the lock open before it had even gotten down. She jumped out onto the ground, wincing as her ankles popped. She ripped out her oxygen can and ran over to Cooper, who was laying still. _

_His eyes were glazed, barely moving. Had she been too slow? Was he dead now because of her? Brand fiddled with his helmet to try to get it off, and ultimately took his face visor off and shoved the mouthpiece into his mouth. She yelled with all of her might._

"_COOPER!"_

_His eyes flung open as he started to sputter, breathing the oxygen. She picked him up to help him walk to the Lander. As they got into the Lander, Cooper took out the mouth piece. _

"_Cooper! Keep breathing-"_

"_Brand... I am so... Sorry... Mann lied..." _

_She took a second to process what he was saying._

Brand shook her head, and pressed her forehead against the cold glass, closing her eyes.

"Cooper... I am so sorry."

* * *

><p><strong>More flash backs~ : D Now... Whether to torture yall more... Hahaha im kidding. The next few chapters are going to be short, because it alternates between Cooper and Brand's views.<strong>


	7. Authors Note

The chapters after this are kind of, scattered. Chapter 7 is split into 2 parts. So, reviews would be really appreciated on the chapters ahead! Anyway, enough for my rambling! Get reading! -Sheila


	8. Ghost- Brand

- **Chapter 7: Ghosts- Brand**

The lights came on and Brand had to shield her eyes. She was sure she was just hallucinating.

_Just my mind playing a cruel joke on me._

Nothing should be able to escape a black hole. Not that she didn't know there was a small possibility that they _could _have escaped. Brand just could not wrap her mind around it.

Brand slowly blinked her eyes, letting them adjust to the sudden brightness.

_There is no way... Have I been alone for so long that I am seeing ghosts? _

Once again, as if he was reading her mind, "I assure you Dr. Brand, I am no ghost. Maybe I am to other people, but I am not physically a ghost. I am as solid as can be."

Her eyes started to focus on the blurry shape standing next to her. First the outline. A space suit, a black one, not the same one they were in when they were on the _Endurance. _

"Oh my gosh..."

Then the face took shape. It really _was _Cooper. His long face and set jaw, his ever calm eyes, just like the ocean before a storm.

It was like she was in a dream.

Brand reached up and touched Cooper's face.

_Warm..._

It wasn't a dream. Or if it was, it was very realistic.

"Cooper... Is that _really _you? Or are you just an image my mind is projecting?"

He looked a bit offended.

"Oh, come on Dr. Brand, use that smart brain of yours and tell yourself that I am most certainly NOT a dream."

She probably would have laughed had she not been so... Awestruck.

"Cooper... I... I... You..."

Her emotions began to flood and she could not speak. She couldn't believe it. Brand really could not believe it. There was no way that the figure standing before her was _her _Cooper. The Cooper that she had traveled nearly a century with.

In fact, she _wouldn't _believe it. Not until he somehow proved that he was real, and not just some imaginary hallucination.

"Dr. Brand? Dr. Brand. Hey, look at me."

Cooper gently touched her face, moving her hair out of her face.

"Look at me directly in the eyes and tell me that I am not real."

Brand shook her head, refusing to look at him.

"B-because if I do, you might actually _disappear _again... A-and I don't want that... Even if you _are _an illusion..."

Cooper stopped and did something that Brand wished she had done on the _Endurance. _He hugged her, telling her it would be okay.

"No more disappearing for me, Dr. Brand."

If this was a dream, she didn't want it to end. She buried her face into Cooper's chest. The rough space suit was real enough, but she wanted to _feel _Cooper, make sure he was real.

Brand touched his face, running her fingers through his hair, feeling the stubble on his jaw line. Her heart pounded. Her lips quivered, and her arms felt like jelly-

And then she cried.

Brand sobbed, her shoulders heaving with each breath that she took. Cooper sat down next to her, holding her.

Cooper was back, and alive. He was here, but why?

**Chapter 7.5 coming soon! Like, really soon.**


	9. Ghost- Cooper

**Chapter 7.5: Ghost- Cooper**

Cooper stood up to turn on the lights. He was slightly worried what Brand was going to say. Was she going to flip out and say that she doesn't need him?

Brand slowly lowered her hand from her eyes, her face was almost like she was cornered in a cage. It looked like she was still hazy, her eyes unfocused.

Her face said it all. Disbelief, confusion, and emotions that Cooper had never seen on Brand's face. Brand's eyes started to focus, her face slowly starting to realize just who was in front of her. Suddenly, all of the color drained from her face. She looked like she had seen a ghost.

"I assure you Dr. Brand, I am no ghost. Maybe I am to other people, but I am not physically a ghost. I am as solid as can be."

Her eyes traveled all over his body, like a scanner, scanning everything and taking notes.

"O-oh my gosh..."

She stuttered in her breathing. Her hands were cold and shaky. Cooper just wanted to caress her hands and tell her it would be okay, but he knew that Brand would have to realize that for her self.

He knew how important this was, and hoped that Murphy was right to come back.

And right now, Cooper knew the answer.

"Cooper... Is that _really _you? Or are you just an image my mind is projecting?"

Cooper pretended to look offended.

"Oh, come on Dr. Brand, use that smart brain of yours and tell yourself that I am most certainly NOT a dream."

He hoped that that would get a laugh out of Brand, but all he got was a stutter of a sentence.

"Cooper... I... I... You..."

Her face and body began to convulse, like it was trying to accept it, but part of it wouldn't. He knew what she was feeling. More over the disbelief. It was just like on Mann's planet. When he marooned them and had lied about everything. He just hoped that he had gotten to Brand before she reached that point.

"Dr. Brand? Dr. Brand. Hey, look at me."

He wanted her to believe that he was real, and to calm down, to take a deep breath, and let it out if she needed.

Cooper reached out slowly, taking some of her hair and moving it out of her face.

"Look at me directly in the eyes and tell me that I am not real."

Brand stopped for a second, and shook her head. Cooper was confused and didn't understand why she wouldn't just look at him in the eyes.

"B-because if I do, you might actually _disappear _again... A-and I don't want that... Even if you _are _an illusion..."

Cooper felt something in his emotions stirr. He hadn't had this feeling in a long time... They churned and boiled. His memory reminding him in a rude awakening style. _Murphy..._

His vision got a bit blurry. He didn't want Brand to see him like this. He took it into his mind to do what he couldn't for Murph. He walked forward and hugged her.

"No more disappearing for me, Dr. Brand."

He could feel her bury her face into his chest, sobbing.

She reached up to touch his face, feeling his jaw and his stubble.

_I need to shave..._

Cooper just held her, telling her it was all okay, that he was here now.

He knew that Brand was going to need some time to understand and grasp that he _was _here.

_Murph... Please help tell my why I am here... And what am I supposed to do?_

Cooper let some tears slide down his cheeks, angry that he hadn't come back sooner.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a fridge shape move. He would get them later.

* * *

><p><em><strong>STUPID FRIDGES. RUINING EVERYTHING. <strong>_**Okay so this is like, different view time. I'm trying something different! Tell me what you think about it! Chapters that are relatively short and have .5 means its the same chapter, but probably has both sides view of the chapter. Now that Cooper is here, i will label the chapters with whoevers view it is. Some chapters do not have both views because it would be really repetitive. Next few chapters have a bit to do with TARS and CASE. But don't worry. There is going to be a LOT on Cooper and Brand later.**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So... I am having a bit of a hard time writing... So the chapters may take a little bit longer than usual... <strong>


	10. Routine Maintenance

**Chapter 8: Routine Maintenance- Cooper**

Cooper walked out of the room, stretching his arms. He knew one thing that needed to be done: Get out of this suit.

Brand had told him that his stuff was in the floor, underneath the tiles in the living quarters. Cooper slowly strutted his way into the dining area, looking around.

CASE and Brand had been hard at work. Taking apart the _Endurance _was no easy feat. There was still much to be done, and now that he was here, things might go a bit faster.

Cooper took the floor tile out and grabbed his box of things. He stepped into a room and started to take off his suit. Cooper knew that he had to put it away properly, and probably shouldn't be taking it off in his room, for the whole contamination thing. But he was a man on a mission.

_Protocol can come later, I gotta piss. _

Cooper put the suit on the bed and got dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a white t shirt. It felt good to be out of that space suit. He preferred the one he had when they started on the mission. It was white, and, despite its looks, pretty roomy. The new one was black, and the helmet was a bit smaller. It was formatted to be air force style. That was one thing that Cooper didn't miss about the air force.

Cooper ran to the bathroom to relieve himself.

* * *

><p>Upon finishing the important task, Cooper returned to his room. He took off his name patch and slapped it above the door, making a hollow "whump" noise resonate through the room.<p>

Cooper put his stuff into the closet and sat down at the small table by a window. The terracotta colored landscape rolled on, for what seemed forever. This seemingly quiet place would be the next "Earth" that would carry on the human race.

CASE came thumping up to the doorway. "Hey Cooper, could we take the unit with our charging ports off next? I think TARS is having some trouble keeping his charge. He has shut down twice since you have been back."

Cooper stood up. Why was TARS having problems? He had just replaced his power source and had been _annoyingly _updated by the _Cooper Station _team.

"Sure, that sounds like a good idea, CASE. How could you tell it was his power source?"

CASE seemed to hesitate a little bit. It seemed like he was thinking of what to say.

"TARS and I, we have a special network we can access. While he was down once, I went there to access TARS. He told me that he had gotten a new power source. New power sources sometimes need to be... Worn in. I took a guess that maybe it was his power source... I could be wrong, but I just think it would be a good thing to do."

Cooper stopped to think. "Well, we were on the _Cooper _Station for a while... Maybe a month or so? Nothing like this happened while we were there... Could you bring TARS in so I can take a look at it?"

"Roger." CASE beeped as he sent out a signal to TARS. He turned to walk out, but stopped.

"Uh, Cooper?"

Cooper was looking out the window and half registered his name being called.

"Hmhn?"

"... Thank you for coming back."

CASE turned again and walked away. Cooper turned his head to where the robot had been. He wasn't too sure what he had just heard.

_Did CASE just, thank me?_

* * *

><p>One of the things Cooper had brought with him from the <em>Cooper Station <em>was his laptop. He had a simple, outdated database for machines like TARS and CASE, but no other updated info on them, so this would have to do until he could get the exact codes and back them up for both of the AI.

Cooper was about done setting up his workspace when both TARS and CASE walked in.

"You missed me already, Coop? I was only gone for 4 hours."

Cue light.

"Ahaha, yeah Slick, yeah I did. Now get your mechanical arse over here."

TARS clunked over to the makeshift charger port CASE had assembled while he was alone with Brand.

"Okay, Coop. What are we doing today?"

Cooper laughed.

"I am going to make a backup for both you and CASE. Just to be cautious. TARS I need you to open your ports."

"Roger." TARS opens up his panel for Cooper. Inside are a 5 USB ports, and a few other port that Cooper could not remember the names of. Technically it had been more than 100 years since he was last on Earth...

Cooper took a few cords and plugged them into his laptop.

"Are these are the right ones, TARS?"

TARS checks the signals.

"Spot on Coop. You haven't lost it yet, have you, old man?"

Cooper waited for the cue light to pop on.

"... TA-"

Cue light.

"I swear TARS, I will get you one of these days..."

TARS laughed.

"I don't think you could catch up to me in a million years, Cooper."

Cooper waited.

And waited for the cue light.

He wasn't joking.

Technically he was right... He was a robot, 4 moving parts and could pick up some serious speed with that body of his. There was no plausible way Cooper, or any other human alive, could catch up to TARS or CASE if they went into "4 wheel drive", not without the help of a vehicle or some other machine.

Cooper let out a grunt.

"Ill let that one slide for now, Slick. Now, do what you gotta do. I'm going to start backing up your files."

TARS prepared to shut down.

"CASE, go to the virtual network. Don't do anything weird to me while I'm out, Cooper."

Cue light.

Cooper wished he could slap him upside the head.

TARS's screens slowly cleared off, and then went black.

"I will be on standby, Cooper. If you need me, just call out to me."

CASE's screens flickered off, the cue light flashing on and off occasionally, telling him he was "asleep".

Cooper took a deep breath and started to copy files onto his external hard drives. He was glad he had brought several external hard drives. Cooper knew that they would have a LOT of files. And exactly what is this "network" that TARS and CASE use?

* * *

><p>After several hours of debugging and copying files, Cooper had finished with TARS. And he knew that the cause of why TARS had shut down.<p>

"Hey, CASE?"

The robot in the corner of the room stirred to life.

"Yes, Cooper?"

"I found the source of what was causing TARS to shut down. It was a few files that didn't match up with his protocol. When he would try to execute them, it wouldn't work and forced a shutdown. Acting like a fail-safe. I went in and fixed the code, so they should work now. I also completed the backup of TARS's files."

CASE was taking note of everything Cooper was saying.

"Okay. I assume that I am next to be backed up."

Cooper nodded his head as he unplugged the cords from TARS and the external drives.

"CASE, can you restart TARS? I need to grab the other external drives."

CASE hobbled over to TARS.

"TARS, Initiate."

The machine stirred to life, running code and system checks. He finished booting up within seconds.

"Hello again, CASE."

Cooper walked into the room with the extra external drives.

"Okay, CASE. Your turn."

CASE clunked over to the port and set himself in.

"CASE, please open your ports."

A hiss of air leaked through his panel. Then it popped off. Cooper took the cords and plugged them in again.

"All good, CASE?"

"Affirmative."

"Okay, then shut down when you are ready, CASE."

"Roger."

CASE's screens slowly cleared off, and he shut down.

Cooper sighed, cracking his knuckles, preparing for the next backup.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry for the rambling... better chapters are to come soon... for now, enjoy!<strong>


	11. Lessons

**Chapter 9: Lessons**

**Before you read this chapter, there is a lot of things in here that are just reflections of my understanding on some science on timelines and the different Branes and who "They" might be. If you do not want to read it, then you can just skip this chapter, but there is some interesting speculation in here. So basically, it just rambling of science I don't fully understand. PLEASE DO NOT SEND HATE OR BASHING OVER THE INACCURACIES OF THE SCIENCE IN THIS CHAPTER. **

TARS stayed silent for the first few minutes while Cooper was getting the process started. TARS could tell that Cooper really cared about them. They had been with him the whole mission, and it really made TARS feel appreciated. Sure, he was just a machine, but it still made him feel important.

Once Cooper had gotten the transfer started, he sat down and motioned to TARS to come over.

"Hey, Slick. What did you see in the Tesseract?"

TARS stopped to think for a second. It probably was just about the same as what Cooper saw. But he had seen something that had changed his view on Cooper. He had seen just how much Cooper really loved his family. That Tesseract was not of just Murphy's timeline, it was the whole history of that room, through that book shelve. That room had been Cooper's at one time.

"It was mostly just like what you saw... But it did not just show Murphy's timeline, it showed the whole history of that room, through that book shelve. I have reason to believe that they did not include all of the timelines, because there are infinite amounts of them. I believe that they just put the ones closest to your timeline."

Cooper stopped to think about this. _Timeline? Then why not just-_

"Then why not just put only mine there? Cut down on the drama."

Cooper knew about the simple idea of what a timeline was. But he didn't know an extended amount of information on them.

"Because Cooper, it was there for the other timelines that could exist there, the ones that got to Gargantua."

"Wait, wait. Other timelines?"

"Cooper, think of it as a giant tree, with billions of branches. One decision one one timeline could branch out to an infinite amount of different possibilities. Such as, if you took a step out your front door with your left foot rather than your right foot, the weather could be windy later or sunny. There are so many specifics and tiny things that affect the timelines. Therefore, there are infinite amounts of timelines."

Cooper tried to understand what TARS was saying.

"Come on, TARS. I am an engineer, not a scientist. I don't get all of that stuff about the "Bulk Beings" or the timelines."

TARS stopped and started going through his archives of history and research. Once he had finally gotten enough information, he started to string the information together.

"Okay Cooper, so the "Bulk Beings", what we call them, are beings of a higher dimension. Whether or not it is because of a higher or lower frequency, we can not see them directly. If they were to lower in their "frequency" and pass over an object, it would create a distorted image of it. They would not necessarily look like us, and we have no clue as to what they would look like. Some scientist and people believe that "God" is a bulk being."

Cooper stopped TARS, with a very confused look on his face. "So, you are saying that God is a... Bulk being?"

"It is just a speculation, Cooper. But yes, "They" may be a whole society of, advanced beings, trying to save the human race. We do not know if timelines affect them, but we, you and I, know that time to them, is another dimension. An example of that was the tesseract. And we now know that gravity can be used to exert a force across time. Time may be affected differently there."

Cooper nodded his head slowly, soaking it all in.

"So, if time is affected differently in the Branes, do you think it would be at a faster rate? Since they are far more advanced than what we are?"

TARS thought for a moment.

"I would not think so. Some say that the Branes existed long before our universe was created. In fact, people think that maybe, the Branes became unstable at some point, and we know that the Branes are never 100% stable. A bulk being or a planet of some sort may have crossed into our dimension and that was what pushed the Branes to collapse in and perhaps smash the bulk object, creating the Big Bang."

"Hold up TARS. If the Bulk Objects are at a higher frequency or something, then wouldn't that mean that it would not be able to be seen?" Cooper was having a hard time trying to put it into words.

"That is correct, Cooper. However, it is possible for something to "lose" its energy. We know that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. So the energy being dispelled was what caused the expansion of the debris."

Cooper nodded his head again. It was starting to make a little more sense.

"Okay. Hey, TARS. Is your code similar to CASE? Is it possible for me to try to update CASE by trying to mimic your code?"

TARS walked over to CASE.

"If you can hook us up with the cables, I could take a look at his code and try to install them myself."

Cooper took an extra cord from CASE and plugged it into TARS. He gave TARS a thumbs up.

After a few minutes of silence, TARS spoke up.

"I can give him information updates and simple code fixes, but I cannot give him my new parameters. He is not equipped with those guidelines."

Cooper gave him the go and TARS set to work.

Within a half hour, TARS was done with the updates and the backup was finished.

"CASE, initiate."

CASE woke up and stood up. He started to run codes through his systems.

"TARS, did you update me?"

"Yes, I did. Now you don't have to be useless."

Cooper spat at hearing TARS jab at CASE.

"Wow, Slick... That was..."

TARS cue light didn't come on. Cooper wondered if the cue light extended to other AI. Either that or they just didn't care.

Then Cooper remembered. They are AI. They don't have actual feelings.

Cooper closed his laptop and picked it up.

"CASE, please go check on Dr. Brand and make sure she is okay. TARS, come with me so we can assess what needs to be done in order to take the control unit off."

When CASE didn't move, Cooper asked if anything was wrong.

"Hey, CASE. You okay?"

"Yes, Cooper. I just think that you should go check up on Dr. Brand. I am only a machine. You are a human. I think she would appreciate it more if you went."

Never had Cooper regretted a decision more than before... That was a lie.

"I knew I shouldn't have updated you..."

CASE turned to Cooper.

"... That was a joke, CASE."

TARS interjected, always spot on in his timing.

"Do you need me to install a cue light for you, Cooper?"

Cooper laughed.

"Don't you dare try, Slick. And you are right, CASE. Thank you for that. When I come back, then we will assess the work to be done."

They both responded at the same time, making Cooper a bit uncomfortable.

"Roger."

**Was an interesting chapter... Once again, I know the science is most likely not even close to accurate, but I tried. I may fix it at a later date if I can find more accurate information.**


	12. Hard Evidence

**Chapter 10: Hard Evidence- Brand**

**If you like a bit of a challenge, there is some code you can decode to find out what they are saying! You can go here for the key i used ****HERE** ** wiki/Morse_code#mediaviewer/File:International_Morse_ **

**EDIT: Fixed the morse. It should be much more easy to translate! Sorry for that! **

* * *

><p>Brand was tired. The man who had gone into a black hole, who should be dead, was back and alive. She was still afraid that he was fake, that she was slowly going insane. But CASE had confirmed that he <em>was <em>here. Brand sat down on the bed, deep in thought.

_Cooper... Cooper... He is real. You have seen the evidence. Even, FELT the evidence. Why can't you just accept that and move on..._

The truth was, she did believe it. But there was just so many thoughts conflicting in her head. The science side saying, _he isn't real, because its not possible for him to be alive_. Then, her reality side saying that _he is real. You touched his face, felt his warmth_.

The sides clashed with each other, constantly causing her to go from one side to the other. SHe just wanted to yell, _Make up your mind already!_

Only problem: It was her mind that had to be made up.

Brand took a deep breath, focusing her thoughts. _Analyze, Brand. Do what you always do. Find the side that makes more sense._

If Cooper was not real, there was no way that she could have touched his face. To feel his warmth. On the other hand, it was entirely possible that she was hallucinating and her mind was just making her think that he was there.

"Rrrrghh!"

Then Brand just flopped down on the bed, burying her head in the sheets.

She wanted to believe. She really did. But it was her self defense that was trying to protect her in the chance that Cooper was not real.

Brand groaned, all of this thinking giving her a headache. She needed a distraction.

And work was the only way to get her mind off of this. But exactly what was there to work on, without needing the help of CASE or Cooper?

As she thought harder about what she could do, CASE walked up to her door, making light thumping sounds on the floor.

"Dr. Brand? Cooper is going to run a backup on TARS and I. If you need anything, Cooper will be in the navigation module."

"Thank you, CASE."

CASE rolled off. Brand started to think again. Why hadn't she done that to CASE earlier? She knew that she didn't know much on AI, or even how to back up a single file. But it wouldn't have had hurt to at least try...

She decided to take count of the supplies they had, for the millionth time. She just needed to take her mind off of the continual battle inside of her head. Just making a decision would be a win in itself.

After Brand had finished the inventory, she sat down and took a deep breath. _There all there and accounted for. _

Brand closed her eyes, letting her mind wander, playing with ideas and images. Cooper was real. She had just decided that. But that meant that she had to believe it. Deciding it meant nothing if she didn't believe it. Her mind still battled her decision and refused to let her believe what she knew was right.

Brand did not know how long she had been sitting there, but she heard a tapping noise resonating through the walls. She kept her eyes closed and listened to it, trying to see if there was a pattern.

And to her surprise, there was. _Dots and dashes, morse code._

She grabbed her clipboard and started to write down what was being sent through the walls.

..-. - .-. -... .-. .- -. -.. / ... - .- / .- .-. . / -.- - ..- / ... - .-.. -.. .. -. -. / ..- .-. / -.-. - - .-. . .-.

She smiled and started to tap back her response.

- - / -.-. - - .-. . .-. / .. / .- - / -. - - -.. / - ... .- -. -.- ... /

She found that she was waiting with bated breath. Brand shook her head to get her mind off of it.

Then the next string came.

- ... / .. ... / - ... .- - / ... - / -.. - / .. / -. . . -.. / - - / ... . -. -.. / - .- .-. ...

She laughed.

-. - / -.- - ..- / -.-. .- -. / -.- . . .-. / - .- .-. ...

Cooper walked into the room, smirking.

"I brought him along, anyway."

TARS walked into the room, walking over to Brand. Cooper poured hot water over some instant coffee, stirring it with a knife.

"He insisted I came with him." TARS leaned in close to Amelia. "I think he was just scared."

Cooper spilled the coffee he had just made.

"D-DAMMIT SLICK."

Brand tried to hold back a snort as Cooper started to clean up the spilt beverage.

"Nice one, TARS." Amelia said, laughing.

"I aim to please."

Cooper had finished cleaning up the spilt coffee and walked over to TARS, thumping him underneath his screens.

"You smart ass. I might actually follow up on my promise to turn you into a vacuum cleaner."

"Oh no. I am quaking in my boots. Oh wait, I don't have boots. You tried, Cooper."

"How about I make you a pair? Then you can quake in them."

Amelia could not keep a straight face anymore and burst out laughing. It was a good hearty laugh, making her face red. Cooper smiled and flicked TARS on his left screen. If TARS had a face, he would have flinched.

After Brand recovered from her laughing fit, she sat up and took a deep breath.

"Oh, man. I haven't laughed that good in... Way too long. Thank you, Cooper, TARS."

Cooper smiled and walked over to where she was sitting.

"TARS, CASE and I are going to start taking the rest of the modules down. Can you help us?"

Brand nodded. _Work... I guess Cooper is the type who depends on work to get through life...? _Brand still could not figure Cooper out. She knew that he was a family man, and cared a lot about them. Her smile faded when she remembered that he had lost his entire family. Brand really couldn't understand what he felt, and she admitted that. She had been more than certain that she had been the only human being alive after Cooper went into the black hole. She had done her best to keep her mind off of it, but when it really hit her, it hit her to the core.

"We will start tommo-" Cooper stopped. "-oh, ri-ight. Longer days here. So we will start today, actually. I have a special request to take down the one with the charging units next. Dr. Brand, could you start to empty out the module? CASE, TARS, get the connectors ready to take down."

Since the modules were connected by the connectors, they could just be taken off and the module would not have to be moved. They would still stay in the shape of the _Endurance, _the ring shape. That was the easy part of them all. The harder part was getting all of the wires and the such connected to the power, blah blah blah. Since they were the ones who decided the work day hours, they could take as long as they wanted.

Cooper, Brand, TARS and CASE all walked out to get started, Cooper rolling up his sleeves. Brand thought she saw a smile on his face.


	13. The Drone

**Chapter 11: The Drone- Cooper**

After they had taken down the two connectors, they worked on getting the electric wires hooked up. It was a very nice day out, topping at about 68 Fahrenheit in the shade and 73 in the "sun". Cooper had talked to Brand about what to call the light coming off of Gargantua. They had both agreed that Gargantua was too long to say, so they settled on just keeping sun, but not capitalizing it. They would come up with a better name later.

"CASE, can you get me the flat head and the needle-nose pliers?"

Cooper was halfway inside of a panel, butt sticking out. He held his hand out as CASE came over to drop the tools he had requested.

Brand had started to put stuff back into the unit. As Cooper laid on his back, he stared up at the sky, and its reddish hue. There were bound to be extra parts, and Cooper wanted to do something with them. He just had to find out exactly what he wanted to do with them. Cooper slid back under the control panel and grabbed the pliers. His mind played back to Earth as he messed around with the wires.

* * *

><p>"<em>...Okay Murph, give me 2nd."<em>

_Sitting on the console between him and Tom was Murphy, manning the stick. Cooper took a sip of his coffee, black and no sugar. Not that there was any reason to be wasting sugar on coffee. The corn zipped by outside, green and yellow streaks mixing together. Dust kicked up by the dually rose up and fell onto the dirt road._

"…_Now third…"_

_Murphy shifted the gear when it got caught._

_She struggled, wrestling the stick._

"_Find the gear, dumbass."_

"_SHUT. UP!"_

_BANG-_

_They felt the truck lurch, and the vehicle sank to the left._

Tire must have blown out… _Cooper thought._

"_What'd you do, Murph?"_

_Murphy looked like she was about to punch Tom into the dirt._

"_She didn't do anything. We lost a tire is all."_

"_Murphy's Law."_

_Tom made an ouch face as Murphy punched him in the arm._

"_Shut up, Tom."_

_Cooper got out to check the left side. The back left tire was flat._

"_Grab the spare."_

_Tom stopped._

"_That _is _the spare."_

"_Then grab the patch kit."_

_Cooper checked the second tire. It was just the outside tire that blew._

"_How'm I supposed to patch it out here?"_

_Cooper stood up, dusting off his jeans._

"_Figure it out. I'm not always going to be here to help you."_

_Cooper moved to the other side of the car, where Murphy was. Tom just stood there, mouth gaping._

_Murphy looked down at the ground, pouting._

"_Why'd you and Mom name me after something bad?"_

"_We didn't"_

"_Murphy's Law?"_

_Cooper took a deep breath and rubbed his chin._

"_Murphy's Law doesn't mean that bad stuff will happen, it just means that 'what can happen; will happen'. And that sounded just fine to us."_

_He sees Murphy frown, then perk up. She looked up past Coopers left shoulder._

"_What?"_

_Then he heard it too. A low rumble. Cooper knew that sound well._

_Cooper sprung into action, grabbing Murphy and pushing her down as a drone soars over head._

"_Come on!"_

_Cooper jumps into the truck, firing the ignition, the truck roaring to life. Cooper pulls out his laptop and an antenna. He shoves them to Murphy and yells at Tom._

"_Get in!"_

_Tom stands there, hand pointed at the tire._

"_What. About. The. Flat. Tire."_

_Cooper shot Tom a I-will-leave-you-here look, and Tom got the message._

* * *

><p><em>Cooper sped through the dirt road, and as the drone turned above the cornfields, Cooper turned into the corn, surprising the kids.<em>

_As they barreled through the cornfields, Murphy fired up the laptop. Cooper scans the sky to find the drone-_

"_There!"_

_To the right of the car, the drone was flying low. It was a dark drone, the ones with the long, thin wings. Looked like a U-2, but without a cockpit. Cooper jerks the wheel._

"_I-Indian air force surveillance drone. Solar cells could power an entire farm!"_

_He shouts to Tom, who was very confused._

"_Take the wheel-"_

_Tom climbs into the drivers seat, like a reverse Chinese fire drill, only you do it while the car is driving. And inside._

_Cooper takes his laptop and gives Murphy the antenna._

"_Keep it pointed right at it-"_

_Cooper works on his laptop, seemingly smashing keys. Hindi fills the screen. Cooper has a smirk on his face._

"_Faster Tom. I'm losin it!"_

_Tom weaves in between the corn. As they round a corner, they almost ran right into a harvester. Luckily, they only lost a wing mirror._

Eh, didn't need it that bad.

_The drone soars overhead, banking and pulling away._

_The dually smashes out of the cornfields, crashing into a chicken wire fence._

_Cooper was too engrossed in his work to notice._

"_Dad?"_

"_Almost got it. Don't stop."_

_He smashed away diligently at the keys, sweating beads._

"_DAD."_

_Cooper sensed the urgency in Tom's voice and looked up-_

_Just in time to smash on the breaks._

_The truck stopped just shy of the cliff, overlooking the reservoir._

_Cooper shoots Tom a look, and Tom just shrugs._

"_What? You told me to keep going."_

_Cooper sighed._

"_Well that answers the 'if I told you to drive off a cliff' scenario."_

_Murphy was still holding the antenna._

"… _We lost it."_

_Her face would have broken his heart had he not had a trick up his sleeve._

"_No-o we didn't."_

_He got out of the truck, messing with the track pad of his laptop._

_He waited for Murphy to get out as he moved his finger up and to the left._

_Her face lit up like the Fourth of July._

_The drone soared by, moving with Cooper's finger. He knelt down next to Murphy, looking at the drone._

"_Wanna give it a whirl?"_

_Her eyes lit up as he took her finger and guided it along the track pad. As she moved her hand, the drone moved. . It was like a waltz._

"_Let's set her down next to the river."_

_Murphy had already figured out how the trackpad controlled the drone. She banked the drone starboard, and lowered it down onto the bank. It landed with a little bump._

"_Nice!"_

* * *

><p><em>Cooper parked the truck, jumping out and grabbing the saw from the back.<em>

_He walked over the left wind of the drone, stooping down by the control panel. He ran a hand over the smooth carbon flank of the aircraft._

_Tom walked with his hands in his pockets._

"_How long do you think it's been up there?"_

_Cooper thought as he started to open the panel._

"_Well, Delhi mission control went down same as ours, ten years ago."_

"_It's been up there for ten years? Why'd it come down so low?"_

_He sighed and thought about the possible reasons of why the drone did come so low._

"_Either the Sun finally cooked its brain, or it came down looking for something."_

_Murphy sounded interested._

"_Like what?"_

"_Some kind of signal. Who knows?"_

_As he said that, he popped off the panel and reached in, grabbing the black-box._

_Murphy looked over his shoulder. He could sense some unease._

"_What are you going to do with it?"_

_Cooper laughed._

"_Give it something socially responsible to do, like drive a combine."_

_Murphy looked awkwardly at the drone._

"_Couldn't we just, let it go? It's not hurting anyone…"_

_Cooper looked at his daughter. Good kid…_

"_This thing has to adapt, just like the rest of us."_

_Murphy looked a little dejected. Cooper started the saw up, getting ready to take off the wings._

_Even though it was just a machine, Murphy looked away, like Cooper was about to saw off the wings of a bird, helpless and yearning to be back in the sky._

_He shook off the feeling and lowered his safety glasses._

_Safety first…._

* * *

><p>Cooper felt a cold object on his forehead, stroking it. <em>What is that? <em>He tried to see his surroundings, but it was dark.

"Murph? Is that you?"

The cold object stopped. He put together the pieces and concluded that it was a hand. He felt hazy, then felt something warm running down his cheeks. Wait, was he laying down-

Cooper jolted up, opening his eyes. What he saw was not what he had wanted to see.

Instead of the farm, the cornfields, he was met with a rugged landscape; a red terrain.

Instead of his kids, he was met with the familiar rectangular shapes standing above him.

Instead of his wife, he was met with the worried face of a woman, who he knew was all-alone on a planet by her self.

The haze cleared up.

He remembered where he was.

And he wasn't too sure he wanted to.

And he cried.

* * *

><p><strong>Feels trip. Anyone feel bad for Cooper yet? No? Well, boy do I have news for you.<strong>


End file.
